Be Like the Rain
by troyburger20
Summary: What would Bleach be like if, during Urahara's training, Ichigo had failed to become a shinigami and instead succumbed to becoming a Hollow instead? What would be different? probable Ichihime, small percent chance Ichinel, maybe both! who knows.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own bleach. That's what Tite Kubo does, not me.

* * *

Ichigo screamed as he felt the cold, bone like mask forming over his face. Keisuke, Jinta, and Ururu looked on, ready at a moment's notice to put an end to their failing project.

Ichigo's mask had almost completely formed around his head, and he was beginning to tear out of his arm restraints. Tessai noticed this and muttered an apology to Keisuke before slamming his thick fingers into the ground.

"Bakudo number ninety-nine, type 2," His deep voice rumbled "Bankin!"

White tendrils of cloth sprouted from around Tessai and slithered their way towards Ichigo. "First Dance: Shiryuu!" Tessai yelled out. The tendrils began wrapping themselves around Ichigo in a fashion similar to mummification. They wrapped themselves around Ichigo's entire body, restricting his movement and muffling his screams of agony.

"Second Song: Hyakurensan!" Tessai yelled while 5 large needle like objects stabbed into Ichigo's mummified upper body.

Jinta recognized Tessai's intents and shouted at him, "Hey Tessai!" he called, "If you hit him with that, He'll die!"

"At this point I have no choice." Tessai answered under his breath. "I have already reached the limit of simply holding him. He must be eliminated before he becomes a Hollow!" He took a breath as he clapped his hands together for the final chant. "Final Song: Bankin Taihou!"

A Massive box materialized about 50 ft above where Ichigo's soul was quickly dying. The box began it's descent towards the Earth as Ichigo's bandages began to rip open exposing his skin underneath. The box grew closer and closer to crushing Ichigo flat until when it was barely ten feet from the top of his head. Just then, a huge, dark pulse of Reiatsu, and a bright light shot out from the bottom of the hole. In pinballed off of seemingly nothing in the air before crashing down to the Earth in a huge explosion of dust and Reiatsu.

All 4 pairs of eyes present to witness the spectacle were glued to the crater left by the object. "Oi! Orange boy, is that you?" Jinta called out, "Answer me If you're still alive!"

The only reply that Jinta got back was a piercing, red-eyed stare and a deep, terrifying howl of a soul that has lost all of it's sanity.

Keisuke looked on in pity and disappointment at the once-human creature now standing before him. It's empty red eyes stared at him through a mask of some kind of horned animal. He had an extremely muscular upper body and blood red skin with various white markings and a thick white tail tipped in red. Ichigo gave a it a predatory wag behind him as Keisuke drew his sword out from his cane.

"It seems I was wrong about you, Ichigo. " he said as his sword began to glow red "I apologize in advance for what I am about to do." Ichigo just continued to stare at him.

"Sing, Benihime!" Urahara yelled as he swung his sword. A line of red light sped towards Ichigo at breakneck speed. Ichigo's sinister red eyes widened for just a moment as he saw the beam slice it's way towards him. He narrowly dodged a fatal blow through his chest, but a chunk was taken out of his left arm.

Ichigo howled in pain as he clutched his left arm with his right. The former human stared, hating this odd man in a bucket hat and sandles that had hurt him so. At the same time a bright red ball began to from at the base of his mouth.

Urahara's eyed widened, 'A Hollow of this level shouldn't be able to make a Cero!' he thought as the red light shot towards him. He managed to react in time to dodge it, but when he looked back at Ichigo, he wasn't there. He had gone to his new home, Heuco Mundo.

Keisuke Urahara cursed as he realized his mistake. Then he realized that he had to tell Ichigo's friends about his failure. He knew he couldn't just use the memory altering spray, they were all already spiritually aware.

Today is gonna be a loooooong day.

* * *

Woah cool! After all this time reading stories on here, I actually wrote one for once! Hooray for me!

Not much happens here, half of it's straight out of the anime, but needed to set the stage. More soon, I've been kinda bored lately and this is something I've been wanting to do for a long time, but only got an idea for a short time ago. Let's see how it plays out.


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own Bleach, that should be obvious.

* * *

Chad continued to run as he fired shots from his arm at this seemingly insane man. He was hell bent on getting him to fight when the huge man was clearly the stronger one. Earlier he had scored a hit on the man but that was a fluke. The only reason it hit was because he had been caught off guard.'

Chad maintained a steady run through the alleyways. He had no intention of stopping and letting this man cut him to ribbons. He had a friend to save, and he couldn't do that if he's dead.

Chad turned a corner and there he was, frowning and staring at him with his one eye. "Don't you know how to do anything besides run away?" he said with his deep, raspy voice

Chad took up a defensive stance as Kenpachi once again came at him with his long, ragged sword. Chad managed to block it with his armored right arm, but the force behind the blow still sent him flying towards the wall.

Chad hissed in pain as he hit the wall hard. Spider web cracks spread out from the crater left in the wall by the large Hispanic. He managed to roll out of the way of another strike launched at him by the battle crazy captain of the 11th squad. Chad recognized and punched the ground as hard as he could with his right arm. Due to Newton's third law, he was sent a huge distance up into the air.

Kenpachi's one eye followed him on his way up, and then thinned in annoyance. 'Still trying to run away' he thought as he flexed his strong leg muscles. He pushed off the ground with a grunt and met Chad in the air. Chad brought his arm up out of pure reflex as Kenpachi's sword came crashing down on him, sending him right back down to the ground. Chad found himself in the center of yet another body shaped crater.

He lay on the ground battered, broken and unable to move from his last hit. Kenpachi just looked at him in disgust. "What a waste." He said to the boy lying on the floor "It's been a while since anyone's been able to wound me this badly," Kenpachi looked at his burned left arm "and with a punch too."

Chad looked at the hulking man through drooping eyelids. It seemed that all his work was going to go to waste.

"What a pathetic way to die." Kenpachi spat, "Dying on impact after a desperate attempt to run away."

Was he just going to sit there and let all of his, Orihime's and Uryuu's work go to waste? Was he just going to die and let the cause that Ichigo had given his life to try to fulfill be stepped on by this crazy, weird haired guy that liked to fight way too much?

"Did you think that by running away your friend would be miraculously saved? There's 11 other captains all just as qualified as me to stick their swords through your cowardly body." Kenpachi ranted. "If you couldn't get through me, how did you think that you could get through them?" Kenpachi took one last look at him before turning and walking the other way. "Whatever. This was no fun at all." He said as he swung his sword up to rest on his shoulder. His heavy footsteps thudded down the wide alleyway away from the battered body lying on the floor.

Would he just roll over and take this? Would he just resign himself to this fate? Maybe if it was just himself he was fighting for, but he was fighting for not just himself, but for all of his friends, especially Ichigo. Saving Rukia is what he would have wanted, who was he to deny his best friend's last request?

Pure determination flooded through Chad as the will to fight entered him yet again. Chad struggled to his feet but eventually found his stance. As if sensing this, Kenpachi turned around, grinning at his opponent. "So you're finally ready to fight then huh?" He said through his wide smile.

Chad said nothing as Reiatsu gathered between the two prongs on his shoulder. He rushed at Kenpachi, who readied his sword, grinning like a madman in anticipation of the REAL fight.

* * *

Ichigo dashed across the sand looking for his next meal. He had tried going to the real world and looking for souls, but the ones he had caught just didn't taste right. He seeked something more filling, like the soul of a fellow Hollow. They were torturing him, just being there. He wanted to sink his teeth into their delicious looking flesh. They didn't deserve to live when he was so hungry.

Suddenly, the ground out from under him exploded into a large dust cloud as a hollow with a centipede like body burst out of the ground. Ichigo's eyes thinned, half in triumph, half in anticipation as the hollow lunged towards him in the air. Ichigo landed just in time to roll out of the way as its face slammed into the ground. It seemed it was just as hungry as he was. His heart would be racing in excitement if it had not gone with his transformation. Instead, he just felt a heightened sense of things. It lunged at him again, this time Ichigo slashed at its side with his sharp claws.

The beast roared in pain as it reared back. It stared at him through its mask and was preparing to strike again when suddenly another hollow pounced on it and began to tear into its flesh. Ichigo watched as this newcomer tore into HIS prey. Ichigo slashed at the new Hollow with his claws, only barely missing the thieving beast as it dodged his blow. Ichigo kept the new Hollow in his peripheral vision as he took a bite out of the large Hollow. It tasted empty, like it lacked something. It lacked a certain… quality that his kills usually had.

His eyes flicked to this new hollow. His red eyes gleamed in hatred for this newcomer. He couldn't control himself any longer as he tore a hole through the hollow's chest, completely destroying it. He felt energy flood through him. It was intoxicating and with his simple mind he couldn't think of anything else besides getting more.

He got his wish as another Hollow entered his field of vision, then another… and another. They seemed to have been attracted by the battle, enticed by the promise of a fresh meal like wolves to a wounded animal.

Ichigo's eyes flashed brighter red as he charged, eager to partake of this exquisite buffet of souls.

* * *

Kenpachi grinned in manic pleasure has Chad's fist managed to slip past his defenses yet again. Chad pursued his opening, following it with a quick kick to the side and an elbow to the giant man's face.

Chad finished with a powerful jab of his armored right hand to the battle-crazed man's muscled stomach. Kenpachi was sent crashing into the wall, his ear to ear grin never leaving his scarred face.

"This is good…" Kenpachi said hunched over in his wall crater. "You're not fighting to survive anymore. You're fighting to win." He looked down at his long, jagged katana and saw it shaking. His hands were shaking. This was the highest he had gotten on a fight in a long time.

He covered his stomach with his hand. Chad's last punch had ruptured one of his kidneys.

'Oh well' he thought, 'I've got a spare, and I can always get Unohana to patch it right back up again.' Through the pain, he managed to lift his hand right hand up to his eye patch.

"Do you know why I wear this eye patch and these bells?" he asked. Chad stayed in stance, still silent as he always was. Kenpachi took the silence as a negative and continued. "I wear these bells and this eye patch because if I didn't, my battles wouldn't last very long at all. But not only that…"

Suddenly, he ripped off his eye patch exposing his other eye. Suddenly the entire area glowed yellow as the whole field was flooded with Reiatsu. Chad staggered a bit under the immense power, but otherwise didn't yield. Kenpachi looked at him with both of his eyes, face all but hopelessly depressed

"I wear this eye patch to guarantee that I can get some enjoyment out of my fights!" Chad just continued to look at the completely blood-drunk man. Chad asked him "What _is_ that eye patch?" he said completely bewildered.

Kenpachi's grin grew even wider as he picked it up off the ground. "What, this little thing?" he said showing the inside to Chad, exposing little gnashing teeth and bulging eyes.

"It's a seal, designed by the geeks over at the research division. It seals away the majority of my Reiatsu, giving my opponents an advantage. Very rarely do I come upon such a worthy opponent that I have to do something as extreme as remove it and use 100% of my power!"

Chad looked at the squirming eye patch in his hand with a small amount of fear, overshadowed by the massive man emitting more energy than a hydrogen bomb. Chad's instincts once again told him to run, and his foot took a subconscious step backwards. Kenpachi saw this and his grin instantly melted from his face. It seemed his opponent wasn't as worthy as he thought.

Many thoughts raced through Chad's head, to run, escape, but the most prominent one was still Ichigo and what he would want. He found his strength again as his left foot was once again brought to rest next to his right. Kenpachi's grin instantly returned to his face.

Kenpachi charged at Chad with all of his strength, and with his eye patch off, that was saying something. As he charged, his yellow Reiatsu formed into the shape of a skull.

Chad could only stare at the spectacle before him. The glowing Reiatsu was beautiful in a sense… the sense that could kill you, that is. Chad flexed his right arm as he built up all of his remaining Reiatsu he had into his right arm. His arm began to glow from the excess spiritual energy radiating off of it.

'For Ichigo,' he thought as he released it all out of the back of his arm, propelling him forward at near mach 1 speeds.

His fist collided with Kenpachi's stomach at the same time the giant captain's sword pierced his chest. Kenpachi was sent flying backwards as Chad was left to grasp his gaping wound. He could only fall to the ground as he felt all of his energy leaving him, his arm reverting back to normal.

Meanwhile, the small, pink-haired girl watching the fight smiled and clapped her hands together. "Well, I guess that's it then!" she said with a cheery smile. She jumped down from her high vantage point that she had watched the fight from. The fall would have killed any normal human, but then again she wasn't human, and she wasn't exactly what you would call normal either.

She happily skipped over to her unconscious, but still grinning captain and hoisted his massive body over her tiny shoulders. Before taking off, she hopped on over to the barely conscious Chad.

"Hey there, thanks for the fight! I don't think Ken-chan has had this much fun fighting in a long time!" she said still smiling as bright as the sun. The large Mexican just looked at her through his thick, dark locks, unable to respond properly.

"Try to stay alive ok? If you do, then maybe one day ken-chan will be able to fight with you again!" The small girl smiled one last time before hopping away towards the 4th squad barracks, the huge captain still being carried on her back.

Seeing the small girl finally leave, Chad could finally pass out without fear. A small black cat seemed to come over and sniff his body.

"I best get him out of here before anybody shows up…" the cat said in a distinctly male voice. There was a bright flash of light, and suddenly they were both gone.

* * *

Ichigo pounced on a hollow and took a big bite out of its shoulder. He chewed it slowly, savoring the flavor, before taking another big chunk right out of its neck. The large hollow fell to the hot sands of the desert as it felt its life slowly being drained from it. Another hollow had fallen to Ichigo's newfound might. It was like these hollows were just begging him to take their flesh.

He spied his next target, kind of a runt, an easy kill. He pounced on the small thing, and it whimpered in delicious fear. Ichigo let out a huge roar as he took a huge bite out of its neck, killing it slowly and painfully. As if in response he felt a pulse of hunger come from the hole in his chest, and he couldn't feel the tips of his toes.

Suddenly, all the hollows seemed to clutch the void where their hearts once were. Ichigo saw their bodies seemingly dissolving into brightly glowing particles. Ichigo looked at his clawed hands and saw that they too were dissolving, deconstructing into the particles that made up the very essence of his being. It didn't look to be just him, as he observed all the other hollows in the immediate vicinity. Ichigo gave one final roar as he felt himself cease to be.

The cloud of particles lingered in the air for a moment before smashing together in a giant black ball. The ball stretched long and thin and gave a deep groan before a pair of white feet peeked out from under the ball. It finally succumbed to gravity and landed on its newly formed feet.

It looked just the same as any other Gillian class Hollow, but with one key difference. The mask was mainly white, as all hollow masks are, but had red tribal markings along the top right of the mask. It had two vicious, curved horns growing out of the top of its forehead, and sinister red eyes still glowed true through its eye holes. The characteristic long nose of the Gillian class had been replaced by a thick snout.

Ichigo looked around, the ground seemed to be much farther away all of the sudden. In fact, it seemed that everything had changed. There were no more delicious morsels running around him, and his body felt weird. He tried moving and found his movement was restricted by a thick black cloak he was wearing. He felt the urge to take it off, but a crippling pulse of hunger came from the gaping hole in his chest, reminding him that he had things to do, places to see, and souls to eat.

Ichigo was still hungry.

* * *

Woo hoo! 2nd chapter! alriiiiight! Also my first cliffhanger too, what'cha think?

Yep Ichigo's a menos grande now, that wasn't too predictable was it?

For this one my goal was 2000 words, seeing as my last one was significantly under what i wanted it to be. Look what i go and do, 2.5k words!

on a slightly unrelated note, what is with these FILLERS! one second they make you think they're gonna end, then they go and but out a whole new arc! GARRRRR. -nerd rage over-

Also on a slightly unrelated note, I have a bad habit of not finishing things. Once i start something out of fun, such as say, a fanfiction story, and i feel that I HAVE TO write new chapters, it begins to feel like work to me, thereby losing all of it's fun. So i might not get around to updating this for periods of time, other times I may crank out 3+ chapters a week.

just a heads up fair warning. Thanks for the read!


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